Standard sheet metal cutting has heretofore been performed either on large, relatively immobile stationary tools such as table saws, band saws or the like, or using a hand-held cutting instrument.
Stationary tools, because of their size and bulk, are not well suited for many of the arts in which sheet metal cutting plays a vital role. Their immobility makes it unlikely that they will be able to be situated at many locations where cut sheet metal products are to be used. Furthermore, except for heavy gauge metal, large stationary tools such as table saws and band saws are simply not necessary to perform the cutting operation.
Hand-held cutting instruments have provided the advantage of flexibility and allow for use where stationary instruments could not be easily managed. This operation, however, requires the time consuming steps of taking measurements, transposing such measurements to a sheet metal workpiece and manually operating the cutting means to cut the desired shape from the workpiece. Where more than one workpiece is to be cut to the same dimension, each must be transposed with the appropriate measurements and cut individually.